Losing weight during pregnancy?

Is there anyone here considered overweight who is either losing weight or on a monitored diet? If you are please tell me your secret other than it being morning sickness ;-).

This is my second pregnancy and I am 20lbs overweight :-\ (I should be 40wks already just by that). The pregnancy calculators are all telling me that for my entire pregnancy I have only 10lbs to gain.

While I want to stay within that goal I find it impossible to fathom. As with my first pregnancy I don't have morning sickness, I don't excessively eat/over eat, I don't eat junk. I only drink water and eat my regular diet as I have before even getting pregnant yet I still gain an excessive amount of weight. I just don't know what's going on with my body and I am really upset. So I am really hoping to get some advice.

Update 05.20.13:

12 weeks and no weight gain! But remember I am already 20lbs overweight!

Comments (11)

I lost weight with 3 out of my 4 previous pregnancies. It's not ok to diet while pregnant, but if you eat healthy you can still safely lose weight. I lost only one pound by the end with DS1 (I had lost 12, then gained 11 back in the last month), lost 4 with DS2 and lost 15 with DS3. With my girl, I gained 40 pounds. The amount of weight you gain varies a lot depending on hormones and how your body handles them--that's why I lost weight with my boys and not with my girl even though I always ate the same things. Just don't go overboard with sweets and junk and remember that baby only needs an extra 100 cals in the first trimester, 200 in the second and 300 in the third per day.

Edit to add: Try a GD diet if you're going to 'diet'...you'll get all of the healthy options and it should keep your weight in check.

I have to admit most of my life I was 130lbs at 5'4" and now I am 159lbs after my fist pregnancy 20months ago and when I hear folks like you who lose weight (skinny or overweight) I get so envious I just don't know how you guys do it. But like you said its hormones and every pregnancy seems to be different. It looks like I will have to be extra cautious of what I put into my mouth this time :-\ this will be the toughest nine months of my life!!!

That's all you can do. :) I ate all sorts of junk food and sweets with my boy pregnancies and still lost weight, and with my girl I never ate sweets and I made sure I was super healthy and every single time I'd go to the OB he'd complain I was gaining too much. I'm thinking this one may be a girl, because I've got a total aversion to any sweets and the scale is still rising every morning.

I'm so glad someone posted about this. I'm having the same concerns as well, especially because it seems like if I just eat one tiny thing that's not a fruit or veg that I will blow up like a balloon. I had the same problem with my first. It didn't matter how well I ate, I just kept gaining weight. I'm considered obese (I'm actually going to be honest and say I'm about 60-70 pounds overweight from where I should be), and I want to find a way to at least not gain weight while pregnant (which would technically be losing since my weight will go down while the baby's weight goes up). I just can't seem to be able to get my body to cooperate. :(

Always eat breakfast. I never lose weight without breakfast. Eat 3 meals a day and 3 snacks that equal to about a cup and you shouldnt gain any. Im preggo with #4 and have not gained a pound. Im trying to keep the cravings under control and not snack all day. Ive always been big on maintaining my weight.

I know that you don't want to hear this, but I am also 5'4" When I became preggo I weighed 154 (way over my normal 130). I was just starting to visit the gym 3 times a week and we were all cutting processed foods out of our daily eating habits. That being said, I have had such terrible food aversions and morning sickness that I can't eat a thing. Seriously a couple bites here and there. I am down to 140 and am almost 11wks right now. I lost 15 lbs. with my first like this as well. I haven't gone to work out either.

This being my 4th I am so scared that I will come out of it near 200#s I can't imagine it!

I'm hoping that I can get back to a good energy level and find some motivation to get moving again. yesterday i stopped and got a sausage egg and cheese crousant at Burger King. I ate the entire thing and didn't throw up! I was so excited.. and then increadibly guilty. Just know you are not alone and that you are completely normal in your concerns.

Have you made smoothies? you can make fuit smoohies with or without yogurt this curbs some of the sweet tooth stuff and is all good for you.

I'm a plus size momma, and I am also trying to watch what I am putting in my mouth and on my thighs this time around. I conceived and delivered both my prior babies at an obese weight. After the last, I lost 100 lbs, and slowly over the past 18 months, put about 50 lbs back on my lowest. I am starting this pregnancy 45 lbs lighter than my prior two. I really really really want to only gain 10-15 lbs, and until this week, I was doing ok.

For me, it is sugar, white carbs, and sugar... did I say sugar? And the stomach only feels happy when it is full right now. I'm trying my darndest to exercise.

I'd love a support group and I'm finding the other general due date board very adversarial. Anyone want to keep this thread alive?

It's not safe to "try" and lose weight, however eating right and drinking tons of water has been known in some people during pregnancy to lose it. I myself have lost 10 pounds since I found out. I'm not trying to lose it, it just happened. I'm also overweight and would not like to gain much. Keeping active and drinking tons of water and eating right is not a diet, it's a lifestyle. I've lost 60 lbs since may of last year. It just gradually comes off. My doctor knows and assures me I'm not doing anything wrong, in fact she's happy I am taking care of myself and the baby. As long as baby grows normally then everything is good. :)